After Kerala, Punjab to move Supreme Court to challenge CAA

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Friday announced that his government will move Supreme Court against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The state Assembly also passed a resolution by voice vote during the day. The resolution was passed after three hours of discussion. While the ruling party in state Congress and its main opposition, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) voted for the resolution, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) voted against it.

The CM has said that the Centre has to make necessary changes in the Act before implementing it in the state. He also clearly said that the Census in his state will be carried out based on the old parameters only and not include the new parametres recently added by the Centre in National Population Register (NPR).

Punjab thus becomes the second state after Kerala to move the Supreme Court to challenge the CAA.

On January 14, Kerala moved court to challenge CAA, the first state to do so in the country. In its petition, the state called the CAA a violation of several articles of the Constitution, including the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution, right to life under Article 21, and freedom to practice religion under Article 25.

The CAA which seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan has been criticised for being anti-Muslim and is being opposed by several political parties, common people and students across the country.

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